Although the firecrackers at the entrance of the Saigon River did not reach Saigon Port, Xiao Jiao, who was attacked by the People's Army fleet, had long been transmitted to the managers of Saigon Port through telegrams.

The artillery around Saigon Port immediately responded quickly. The artillery took off its cannon suits, filled it with shells, pointed to the downstream of the river, and was ready for battle. At the same time, eight French warships anchored in the port also quickly set fires, and the soldiers on the warship were awakened from their sleep. Everyone was in their place and ready to fight.

Of course, the movement on the fort was not hidden from the merchant ships parked in the port, so they also asked the port managers about the situation. The managers repeatedly assured the owners that Sai Kung Port is absolutely safe, and the People's Army's fleet would never break through the blockade of the fort at the entrance of the sea and break into the inland river. Therefore, all merchants parked in the port can rest assured that the port can ensure the safety of all ships in the port.

These merchant ships chose to berth at Saigon Port, largely because they had full confidence in the defense of Saigon Port, so they were not worried. They dispersed after a while. Some went back to the boat to rest, while others stayed on the shore to drink and chat. In fact, this period has come. Due to the large number of ships being parked, the catering and accommodation industries on the shore are doing well, and every family has made a fortune. The catering and accommodation industries are laughing every day, and they only feel that the sea blockade of the East China government is really too well blocked. I really hope they can keep it forever.

Only a few knowledgeable people can see that the prosperity of the port is just a false prosperity, because Saigon Port is a port that is extremely dependent on foreign trade, and the maritime blockade of the East China government is also a huge harm to Saigon Port. At most one month, Saigon will face the dilemma of some material shortage, tariff revenue decreases, and trade volumes sharply gather and decline.

At this time, only the managers of the port knew that the turrets guarding the port were destroyed one after another, and the situation became increasingly serious. The port asked the fleet to attack and rushed to the entrance of the Saigon River to support the turrets, but was rejected by the fleet commander. The reason was very simple. His fleet was all small boats, and his mission was only to maintain the security of the port and fight low-intensity things such as pirates, and it was not used to fight with the enemy fleet at all. Moreover, since the enemy dared to attack the port, the ones that were dispatched must be battleships, and they were not able to fight against these small boats.

Just when the two sides were arguing, the People's Army's fleet had approached the port and first attacked the port's fortress. The port's fortress was not as strong as the turrets at the entrance, and they were all open-air forts. Therefore, the three cruisers led concentrated their firepower and bombarded the forts. Although the fire was also fired and counterattacked, the intensity and density of the firepower were far less than that of the People's Army fleet. As a result, the port's fortress was quickly destroyed by the People's Army fleet one by one.

Then the People's Army fleet aimed the muzzle at the port and opened fire and bombarded the port. At this time, the French warships anchored in the port could no longer remain indifferent. They immediately started, slowly drove out of the port, and fired at the People's Army fleet.

However, French warships are all small and medium-sized warships, and the caliber of the artillery is not large, and the largest one is only 150 mm. The main guns of the Haike and Haidi are 203 mm. In terms of firepower, the People's Army's warships are of course far better than French warships. Although the number of warships on both sides is comparable, the French warships are all in the port and are small in locations, and the fleet cannot fully engage in combat. Only the four warships in the forefront can be fired without force. The People's Army fleet is on the river surface outside the port. Although the river surface is not as wide as the sea surface, it is much larger than the space in the port. Moreover, the People's Army's warships are not large warships. They can fully deploy on the river surface and develop their own firepower to the limit, which naturally fully suppresses the firepower of the French warships.

Moreover, at this time, the People's Army's warships were shooting at the port. Even if they did not hit the French warships, there was a great chance that they would hit the merchant ships anchored in the port and landed in the water. Since there were many merchant ships anchored in the port, almost all berths in the port were filled. Therefore, even if the merchant ships were not hit, the shells could also form a large number of near-lost bombs. Whether it was a warship or a merchant ship, it could cause enough damage, which was a killing goal.

Of course, the People's Army's warships have limited large caliber artillery, and most of them are small and medium caliber artillery, so French warships are slightly better. Although they are small and medium-sized warships and basically do not have any armor, warships are warships after all. Whether it is the material selection of hull structure or the design of watertight warehouses, they are much stronger than civilian ships. They can bear several small and medium caliber artillery shells as long as they are not in a fatal position. Moreover, even if they are shot in, the crew members on the ship have received strict damage and control training, and ordinary dangers can be saved.

In comparison, merchant ships are not good. The materials of the hull are far less than those of warships. Therefore, even a 75mm shell can cause considerable damage to the hull. Fortunately, merchant ships are basically large and medium-sized ships with more than 5,000 tons, and more than 10,000-ton large ships, which are much larger than French warships and can also withstand a large size. However, the biggest threat to merchant ships is near-range bomb loss. Since the killing of near-range bomb loss is mainly aimed at the underwater parts of the ship, and the design division of the materials and watertight warehouses under the waterline of the merchant ship are far less than that of warships. Even if a 75mm shell falls into the water within a range of 20 meters around the merchant ship, it will also cause the hull to crack and seep under the waterline of the merchant ship. If it is a 120mm shell, the hull can be completely distorted and deformed.

As a result, the warships and merchant ships in the port were hit by artillery one by one, and the explosion continued, and the water column rose continuously. They were either the hull emitted a violent explosion or the hull under the waterline cracked and deformed into the water under the impact of near-laughter bombs. Although the sailors on the merchant ship had also received some rescue and damage pipe training, they were mainly aimed at the natural environment, at most they hit the reef and crashed the ship, which was quite different from the damage pipes in the war environment. Moreover, in this kind of war situation, who would have to rescue the ships and dived and fled.

However, at this time, the water may not be safer than on the ship. Not to mention that there are constant shells falling into the water and exploding, even the fragments generated by the shells hitting the ship are also an extremely deadly threat to the people in the water. Therefore, most of the sailors who jumped into the water were either killed by the impact of the shells falling into the water explosion, or died in broken iron blocks. Under the wooden boards, a deadly sailor corpse floated on the water surface in the port.

At the same time, some of the shells fired by the People's Army's warships fell to the shore and exploded, hitting hotels, taverns, and shops on the shore. The house collapsed, causing flames. Although it was around 4 a.m., many taverns were open all night long, with many crew members. The sailors were drunk in the tavern at this time, and were killed and injured by the bomb. People shouted and became a mess.

Some merchant ships had not yet been extinguished, so they quickly added fire to start the ships to escape. However, the waterways at the port were narrow, and now they were full of ships. The warships had to line up to leave the port one by one, and there were spaces there for merchant ships to leave the port. One merchant ship was panicked, regardless of whether there was any blockage in front, and rushed out of the port. Then he actually bumped into the warship and blocked the waterways at the port. The ships behind could not turn in time, some were panicked, and some tried to knock out a road. As a result, more than 10 warships and merchant ships had a series of collisions. Some were sunk, some were stranded, and some were stuck, and some were stuck, and they could not move. The waterways at the port were blocked and blocked. The remaining warships and merchant ships could only be blocked in the port and bombed.

There were only three French warships that fled out of the port, two cruisers and one destroyer. Among them, this destroyer was originally lined up behind the cruiser. Seeing that the situation was not good, he immediately accelerated and relied on his small size to surpass two cruisers and escaped from the port. As soon as the destroyer left the port, the cruiser behind was hit by a series of collisions and hit the rear side and behind, crossing the water surface, and stuck with another cruiser, blocking the waterways leaving the port, and the ship behind could not get out.

The three French warships that fled out of the port did not attack the People's Army's warships, because the officers and soldiers on these three French warships knew that it was impossible to defeat the People's Army's fleet. At this time, it was important to take care of their lives first. Therefore, after fleeing out of the port, the three French warships immediately turned toward the upper reaches of the Saigon River.

When the People's Army's warships saw it, they did not pursue it. Bi Jing's sinking of these warships was a trivial matter, and destroying the entire port was the main task this time. Therefore, they ignored the fleeing warships and still opened fire and bombarded the port. Anyway, there was no need to aim, just hit the shells into the port.

After nearly an hour of shelling, the entire Saigon Port was covered with a sea of ​​fire, which not only shone the darkness, but also reflected the sky and the water surface in a bright red. Looking around, there was almost no standing mast in the port. If you could still see it in the port, the water surface was basically covered with broken hulls and corpses, and only a few people were still struggling desperately in the water.

At this time, the Haimi and Hesha, who were ordered to support, also rushed to the near port and met with the fleet. However, the task of destroying the port had been completed at this time, but soon the fleet received a new order to bombard the shore facilities of the port and the buildings near the port.

It turned out that after receiving the report from the fleet, Wang Hailong was very happy. He didn't expect it to go so smoothly. However, the Haimi and Haisha had arrived at the port, so they could not let the two warships go for nothing. Moreover, Saigon had no power to threaten the fleet at this time. Therefore, Wang Hailong decided to expand the range of attacks on Saigon, not only to include the shore facilities of Saigon Port, but also the buildings near the port. As long as they are within the range of artillery, they will be included in the new attack range. In short, the greater the damage to Saigon, the better.
Chapter completed!